


You're Our Only Hope

by cassiecasyl



Series: October Prompts 2020 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Avengers Tower, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Battle of New York (Marvel), Canon Universe, Dead People, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Nobody is Dead, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Shock, Star Wars References, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony's vision in AoU, Visions, Whumptober 2020, angst? probably., it's all just imaginary, not edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27048145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiecasyl/pseuds/cassiecasyl
Summary: Peter Parker has a vision about the Avengers being dead.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: October Prompts 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954552
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	You're Our Only Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Day 16: Hallucinations

It was dark and cold, the sky filled with dust rather than stars. Peter looked around, trying to figure out where he was. His senses were dully knocking on his mind’s door, as if indecisive whether to warn him. The lack of air hurt in his chest, but somehow, he was still able to breathe. Peter checked his hands and patted his head. There was no suit between him and space’s vacuum or whatever possibly harmful atmosphere this place had. He tried to slow his breaths but to no avail.

A roar made him jump around, suddenly facing the Leviathan moving to fly. For a moment, he was ten again, hiding under a blanket and watching the TV with big eyes as more and more reports of the Avengers fighting the Chitauri flooded the news. May and Ben were somewhere out there, and he flinched every time more people were confirmed to be dead, desperately hoping to not hear their names, yet searching each frame for a sign of life. He fought tears as Iron Man flew directly into the wormhole, seemingly to never come out again.

Underneath the Leviathan’s body, there was a battlefield revealed, over which said wormhole hovered. Peter recognized Earth in its frame and shuttered as he realized where he was. He spun around again, searching for enemies, Chitauris, anything that seemed dangerous, but the only things that moved were the Leviathans in the sky, preparing to invade his home once more. He remembered the deep cut with which Ben came home that night, scaring him to death, and the long shifts May worked the following days.

Then, something twitched up on the hill, just under the terror-ridden sky. With horror, Peter recognized the green features of the Hulk. His sad eyes found his, begging for him to do something, to ease his pain, before they became cold. Their lifelessness seemed to infect Peter as he stood there, frozen, with wide eyes and a blank mind. He let them down.

Trailing down the bloodied hill, he found Mrs. Romanoff, motionless and staring blankly, and Mr. Barton, hunched over in defeat, his dead hands ready to shoot a final arrow. There was Thor, once mighty and powerful, succumbed to eternal sleep. A shield, broken in two halves, scarred as the team was when he first met them. Captain Rogers, dead, resting in peace.

Finally, the one figure he had dreaded the most. Mr. Stark, positioned against debris, his eyes staring down and his armor barely covering his body anymore. His right side was branded, wounds snaking up from a destroyed arm to his face, illustrating their loss. Peter’s body shook as he fell down next to his mentor, only now feeling the tears on his cheeks adding to the cold. “Mr. Stark,” he sobbed, all too familiar pain ripping through him, searching for any sign of life. There was no blood this time. The relief was a knife cribbling him, and he was sure he’d try to wash it off later anyway. No, the scalds were almost worse. How they deformed his face and form, how he seemed so small now. The power that caused them was still palpable in the electrified air, and Peter wanted to throw up.

Life filled the dead body once more, and Tony looked up. “Kid?” he asked, reaching for him, desperately, confusedly. This was important and Peter was right there, shaking, crying, breaking. There was dread in the shock, Tony’s cold hands against Peter’s trembling ones, barely alive, almost reaching from the grave.

“Mr. Stark, it’s okay. We’re gonna get help,” Peter assured him, trying to find a way out of here, observing the Leviathans for possible passage. It’d be rough, but they’d make it, right? They could do it.

“No, Pete,” Mr. Stark pressed, grabbing at him as if scared to lose him, “You’re our only hope.” He coughed, and then sacked together, joining his team, leaving Peter alone.

“Mr. Stark? Please, Tony,” Peter slipped up between sobs, shattering here on this foreign wasteland. “Mr. Stark!” He tapped him, shook him, trying to get him to wake up again, to breathe, anything. But then, the arc reactor blinked and fainted, and Peter couldn’t pick up any heartbeats anymore, however faint they were. He was alone.

“No!” he screamed, his vision suddenly flashing through dimensions. The dark battlefield disappeared and was replaced by New York’s afternoon sun through high windows. He was in the tower, breathing heavily, trying to grasp reality. Warm arms wrapped around him, and he thrashed, panicking, what if it was a Chitauri? He couldn’t let them down any further.

“Sh, Peter, it’s alright, I got you.” Peter spun around as much as he could to muster the person saying the words, searching for any burns on his skin or life draining from his eyes. Only when he found none of these things did he calm down.

“You’re alive,” Peter stated, staring up in wonder.

“Of course, I am, bud.” There was a frown now, “What’s going on? We know you were thrown in some kind of vision thing, Wanda said, but even Vision couldn’t break you out of it. And you know, he’s got the mind stone.”

“I saw you die.” Tony fastened his arms around the young hero, “I saw all of you, dead.”

“I can assure you, I’m alive, Underoos. And the others are well, too. In fact, Friday, what’s the status of the other residents?”

“Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, and Agent Romanoff are currently in the Training Room. Mrs. Maximoff and Vision are trying to find more on Mr. Parker’s situation, and Dr. Banner is in the lab,” Friday provided.

“See? All is well. It was all just a bad dream. Well, daydream. Daymare?” Peter laughed shortly, bringing a smile to Tony’s lips.

“What about Mr. Barton?” Peter then asked. 

“He is currently at home with his family. Would you like me to contact him?”

“No,” he deflected, “It’s alright. Thank you, Friday!” Tony was watching him, the comfort of his arms never leaving Peter. He seemed to be waiting for something, and Peter asked about it with his eyes.

“Wanna talk about it?” Tony carefully probed, “You don’t need to if you don’t wanna, it’s just, this wasn’t a normal occurrence having its contents might help.”

“It’s okay, I get it, Mr. Stark.” Peter nodded, collecting himself and the words. “Well, there was this big Leviathan thing at the beginning. You know, the Chitauri’s space whale things? And then, it revealed a battlefield, and you were all lying there, dead, the Hulk, Mrs. Romanoff, Mr. Barton, Thor, Captain Rogers and-,” he stopped as tears ran into his mouth, letting a sob out before continuing, “And you. You were dead, Mr. Stark. And then, you said, ‘I’m your only hope’ and left me alone and I can’t- I let you down, I’d fail, and I’m not Obi-Wan, you know, Mr. Stark?”

But Tony looked as if he’d seen a ghost, unresponsive to Peter’s confession. “Mr. Stark?” he tried again, worried now, “What does that mean?” Finally, his mentor blinked, awakening from his shock.

“I don’t know, bud, but it’s nothing good,” he answered.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](https://cassiecasyl.tumblr.com)!
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and maybe a comment!


End file.
